


NEW LIVES ALWAYS BRING BACK OLD ONES

by Lady Lier (LadyZitle)



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Good Omens Holiday Exchange 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-27 08:18:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17158517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyZitle/pseuds/Lady%20Lier
Summary: Adam returns home to celebrate with his family, he enthusiastically finds more family and has a feeling that the whole world understands.





	NEW LIVES ALWAYS BRING BACK OLD ONES

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kujaku Myoo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Kujaku+Myoo).



> Created for the Good Omens Holiday Exchange 2017 for the prompt: The Them grow up, become adults, lose touch and wonder if what they lived all those years ago was actually real.
> 
> Shout out to the amazing Lunasong365 for betaing this, and give it the structure and understanding. This wouldn't be as structured as it is without her help!! 
> 
> Happy Holidays Kujaku Myoo!
> 
> This is a story for you! I hope you like it :)  
> Enjoy.

“She gave birth at 3:00pm, the baby’s name is Amanda, she is in good health, Claire is resting,” read the text from his father.  
  
“I’m on my way,” Adam had responded.  
  
It had been well over ten years that Adam had called London home, and with its busy streets and busy people, it had been an amazing experience. He’d been there studying human psychology, but like most sociological studies, there were so many more questions than answers. This is true whether one is an ethereal being or the most human of them all. He was feeling more human than ever, having good days and bad days, doing good deeds and some selfish ones. In all his time here, he’d rarely returned to Tadfield, but it was always on his mind.  
  
The journey home passed without incident, and when he arrived at the station it felt like the same small town he had grown up in and loved. It was as if he had never left – the smell, the sights - even the aura around Tadfield was still there. The town itself seemed to sigh with contentment on his return. His dad was there waiting for him, and he smiled as their eyes met.  
  
“You look as dashing as your old man was at your age,” Mr. Young greeted Adam, and he chuckled at his joke.  
  
“ ‘ello dad, it’s nice being home.”  
  
They shook hands and hugged each other, then walked to the car which, surprisingly to everyone except Adam, looked as marvelous as ever. It was a beautiful red Morris Minor with just a few little scratches and dents. Adam made a mental note to help his father with it while he was home. They drove to the house where baby Amanda was waiting, and the rest of the family greeted him with love. His sister Sarah had always been too much older than him to be really close, but when Claire was born, he’d been delighted to be the fun uncle. He chatted with everyone and had tea, as English as Tadfield and the Youngs could be. He’d always liked that part of them; it was so traditional.  
  
He went strolling through town the next morning and bumped into Wensleydale on an early run. The two of them recognized each other immediately. Adam still had golden hair and looked like he belonged in this place, and Wensleydale, true to his nature, was staying healthy at thirty-some years by jogging.  
  
“Wow Adam, is it really you?” Wensleydale shouted across the street.  
  
“Wensley! I never thought I’d bump into you here!” said Adam, hugging his long-time friend. “Weren’t you in Germany or something finding some cure to a nasty sickness?”  
  
“I was. But I was getting burnt out, so I thought a nice holiday in the country would help. I arrived two days ago. You?”  
  
“My niece just had a baby. I came here to meet her. I think she is lovely.”  
  
“Oh, congratulations!”  
  
Adam had never stopped thinking about the Them, and they’d always been on his radar while they were growing up. One by one they’d decided to leave Tadfield and he hadn’t stopped them. He’d never prevented them from doing anything in their lives. He’d always made sure that their choices were their own. If he were honest with himself there had been one or so times he’d intervened to keep some adults from making decisions that may have prevented them from doing things but, even then, he’d never interfered in the results.  
  
Adam and Wensleydale talked for a while about their families and jobs, and their different lives, and how funny it was that they’d met up at this time and place. They continued to walk through town and around 3 pm found themselves in front of a building that was built on a lot that years ago had been a vacant field where they’d played. A plump and very tired-looking man came out and stared at them – first at Wensleydale and then more intensely at Adam.  
  
“Adam?” he called out in a very clear voice. His face might have appeared tired, but he was dressed like he had a very important business and wanted to look his best.  
  
Adam had a moment of recognition. In front of him he saw his friend Brian, exactly the same and yet so different.  
  
“Wow, Brian, really? How are you, man? It’s been so long!”  
  
It _had_ been, and they were all really happy to be together and started reminiscing about the old days. They took Brian’s car to a park on top of a hill just outside Tadfield and decided to have a picnic. These green, open spaces would always be part of Tadfield; that would never be lost.  
  
The town still had a feeling of isolation about it, but not as much as when they’d been kids. It was as if Tadfield had this amazing quality of taking a moment to consider all that the world could offer, and only allowing the best of it.  
  
The current kids had video games but rarely used the internet connection for multi-player games. Rather, they went to their friends’ houses to play. Some still wandered through the meadows and enjoyed camping.  
  
From their vantage point they could see a very remarkable cottage that had never stopped being Anathema’s. The lady she’d been renting it from had decided to give it to her in her will, and she’d moved there with Newt, refurbishing it little by little over the years.  
  
“Do you still think she is a witch?” said a female voice coming from the lane. The three turned to see Pepper, with very short crimson hair and eternal freckles, coming up the hill. They all cheered and invited her to join their impromptu picnic.  
  
Pepper hadn’t changed a lot. At every moment she teased the rest of them, but always in a playful way. Like her mother before her, she had become a scholar and sociological researcher, and had traveled around the world for her scientific studies.  
  
“I’m in town for a lecture at Norton Polytechnic next Tuesday. If you want to, you’re all invited,” she said while stealing a sandwich from Wensleydale’s hands.  
  
They stayed there for a least another hour as night fell across Tadfield. As they made plans to attend the lecture, a car arrived at Jasmine Cottage. From it, two kids ran to the main gate; they appeared around 10 or 11 years old.  
  
“Do any of you remember when we were that age?” Brian asked.  
  
There was silence; not because it was difficult to remember (although _certain_ things were), but because all of the Them remembered different things. Wensley remembered a summer where he’d had to proclaim that his aunt was no witch, and how he tried to work out things by being logical. Brian remembered a summer when, in his mind, everything was real and they’d been able to create things only to have them disappear without a trace. Pepper remembered a summer when she’d been able to win most arguments by default by listening to both sides before fighting for one or the other.  
  
“I don’t remember much,” said Adam. “Really, I think it’s just one of those things where you just become _you._ There was this one summer, though, that I remember well. It was when I got Dog. What a summer that was! Dad was angry with me for something I should have done but didn’t, but, then again, I suppose all children get lectured for that kind of thing.”  
  
They kept talking and decided to meet up again the next day. While they were walking back to Brian’s car, Adam stopped and glanced back. Not very far from where they’d been, someone was watching the moon rise. With the light just that way, all one could see was a big silhouette.  
.  
Although the world hadn’t changed, they had, and maybe that is how the world changes. Adam was happy to be here. He knew that Tadfield would always be there and accept him. He hadn’t tried any supernatural tricks in a long time, and today wasn’t the day to do it either. But sometimes it can’t be held back, and Adam released an irrepressible pulse of happiness, well-being, and comfort.  
  
Not many people noticed this, but some did.  
  
***  
  
As Anathema entered her house, she felt it – not a breeze, but a slow warmth in her bones. She had stayed in Tadfield because it had felt like her destiny. After all, the Book had led her here for the End of Days, and even if it hadn’t taken place that Saturday, she’d received the second volume here and thus thought that here was where she should start the rest of her life.  
  
Some miles away from Tadfield on the coast of the South Downs in a rustic and dusty (despite some demonic efforts) studio cottage were two entities who felt it too.  
  
Aziraphale and Crowley felt it, but in a slightly different way. They were reading, or to be more precise, Aziraphale was reading and Crowley had already fallen asleep on his book.  
  
The demon opened his eyes and in a loud voice declared:  
  
“We need to celebrate!”  
  
Aziraphale smiled and closed his book with a heavy thud.  
  
“We absolutely should!”  
  
In an instant they were dressed and ready for a night out.  
  
This night they decided to eat downtown surrounded by all types of humans, both tourists and residents. They really ate to their hearts’ content ordering what they most liked. They were feeling so well that they even decided to buy a meal or two for some tables at the restaurant.  
  
A long time ago they had decided that their affections were more than any book could describe and more (in a lot of ways) than what they had felt for each other before. So, for them, the most natural thing was to continue like this, together in all the things they did. And because they had no reason to worry, choosing to live more human lives had made them happy.  
  
  
They walked back home sharing a cigarette, one of the benefits of being immortal and living on Earth.  
  
The ethereal beings opened a bottle of some ancient brew and toasted to another hundred years, then to another millennium, then to whatever would come their way. After all, they were together and nothing else mattered. Adam had seen to it they had no reason to worry – so they didn’t.  
  
The night was still new and they had all the time in the world.


End file.
